TAKE ADVANTAGE → Get THREE Months of CST+ for just $1.00
When Dabo Swinney walked into the media room after Clemson’s 27–16 comeback win over Troy, he didn’t sugarcoat the chaos his team had just survived.
“Well, I thought y’all would be here at 10 o’clock when y’all came to work today,” Swinney joked, alluding to the unusual midgame weather delay. “What a weird day. Just a crazy day.”
Weird hardly begins to describe it.
Clemson trailed 16–0 early, gave up a pick-six, and endured a long stoppage before the Tigers flipped the game on its head. Behind quarterback Cade Klubnik’s poise and Adam Randall’s bruising runs, the Tigers reeled off 27 unanswered points and five straight scoring drives, sealing the win with a four-and-a-half-minute march that never let Troy touch the ball again.
To Swinney, that turnaround wasn’t just about execution. It was about resilience.
“About everything that could go wrong was going wrong with these guys,” he said. “That’s what champions do. That’s what resilience looks like. That’s what courage looks like. That’s what toughness looks like—especially mental toughness. I was super proud of how they responded.”
Clemson’s first half could have broken lesser teams. The Tigers survived a Randall fumble on fourth-and-two early that was returned 50 yards the other way. Then came a pick-six as Klubnik had a ball tipped up in the air near his own goal, only for a defender to step in front and waltz to the end zone.
“Put yourself in Cade’s situation, right? He’s been crucified all week,” Swinney said. “He didn’t play well last week, and now you come into the game, the guy stops rushing, you’ve got an easy little access throw—and pick-six. Crazy. How are you going to respond?”
Klubnik responded by hitting Bryant Wesco Jr. for a couple of scores, including a throw over the cloud defender and leading the Tigers to points on each of the next five possessions. By the time the game finished, Klubnik was 18-of-24 for 196 yards and two touchdowns. Far from the Heisman numbers people expected this season, but after the first half, Tiger fans were just satisfied to see some positive plays.
“As I told you last week, if the worst part of that game was that our best player played poorly, sign me up for that,” Swinney said. “There’s one thing I’ve got no doubt on: what No. 2 is made of, and you saw that tonight.”
The ground game proved just as vital as Randall made his presence known in his new role, delivering 21 rushes for 112 yards with 165 all-purpose yards.
“We got Adam Randall going. What a gutsy game for him,” Swinney said postgame. “I was really proud of Adam—tough, tough runs.”
On Sunday, during his weekly teleconference, Swinney added, “That’s the most he’s ever played at running back. He just needs to play. Honestly, it’s the first real opportunity Adam’s had.”
The defense bent early but didn’t break. Troy managed just one offensive touchdown, bringing Clemson’s season total allowed through two games to three.
“Defensively, the biggest thing was the sacks—really timely sacks that negated some field position,” Swinney said. “That quarterback had not thrown any interceptions, so to pick him off three times—and really Ronan [Hanafin] had number four; that’s why we moved him to DB, he forgot how to catch,” Swinney joked.
Hanafin, cornerback Ashton Hampton, and safety Ricardo Jones each came up with interceptions.
Swinney praised the opportunism again. “Turning the ball over, I think that’s five in two games,” he said. “Really pleased that we got three interceptions yesterday. Good to see us get some pressure on the quarterback and create some negative yards. That was a big part of the game.”
Special teams, too, played a defining role. Sophomore kicker Nolan Hauser drilled two field goals, and punter Jack Smith averaged 45 yards per attempt. One other signature play came on a deep onside kick as Robert Gunn III, perfectly placed a kickoff to the Troy 5-yard line.
“The execution of the deep onside was a big, big play in the game,” Swinney said. “Great job by Robert Gunn. We kind of caught them off guard, the kid’s fair catching it, and that ball was on the five. All of a sudden, you start field position on the five-yard line. I thought that was really well executed.”
Swinney also noted that freshman offensive lineman Brayden Jacobs is still adjusting to the speed of the game, after having to step in for injured veteran Tristan Leigh.
“Brayden just needs experience and play,” Swinney said. “He’s going to be a great one. He’ll learn from that.”
Swinney has coached long enough to know early September football rarely looks polished. What matters is how a team handles the rough edges.
“Early games are hard. You don’t have a lot of tape,” he said. “You’re figuring things out on the fly. As you get further into the season, you start to see a little identity and learn more about their personnel. Two hard-fought games for these guys. This bunch is battle-tested right out of the gate. Hopefully that serves us well.”
That battle-tested edge, Swinney believes, could become the Tigers’ calling card. Now comes conference play as Clemson heads to Atlanta for a noon kickoff at Georgia Tech, and the Tigers cannot afford a slow start for a second straight week.
